Tent

When we were researching a tent for backpacking, we were looking for the lightest tent we could find. After all, we are fifty-somethings!

We ended up with the Tarptent Double Rainbow, which has taken a little getting used to, but we really, really like it. Our favorite features include:

• Doors on BOTH sides,
• The ability to set it up without stakes (very handy when setting up under a picnic shelter), and
• There are many ways to configure the vestibule flaps using poles or extra lines.

A couple of things to note:

1. There is no rain fly. This is a single-walled tent, which means that there is a potential for condensation. If you follow a couple of guidelines for tent placement/setup, you can minimize this risk. 
2. Keep the air flowing. At first, we would set it up so that there was as little outside air coming in as possible, thinking this was the best was to "keep warm." Wrong. This contributes to condensation.
3. Location, location, location. Stay away from grassy meadows and water. Camp under a tree. If there's wind, be aware of how you orient the tent to minimize dust. 

In the photo below, our tent is under a tree on some pretty meager grass. It was very hot and muggy on this October day (the low for the day was in the 70s). We wanted to have some privacy at night but also wanted good airflow, so we used our trekking poles to hold up the flaps.

Tarpent Double Rainbow in Hermann, Missouri